As power and circuit density increase in active and passive semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) devices, thermal management of the IC devices during operation increasingly poses a challenge. With insufficient heat management, compromises in performance of the IC devices due to higher device temperatures, and even permanent structural damage can occur. For example, mismatches in coefficients of thermal expansion between the IC dies and certain integrating structures for packaging, e.g., heat spreaders, in thermal communication therewith can cause permanent structural failures, e.g., cracks in the bonding layer (solder or brazing filler metal) between the IC dies and a base plate or a heat sink, or in extreme cases, cracks in the IC dies themselves. For some high power IC devices, such as radio frequency (RF) power transistors and other high power microwave devices, which can include compound semiconductors such as wide band gap (WBG) semiconductors, efficient heat management can pose an especially difficult challenge. This can be because, in addition to higher levels of heat generated by the IC devices, certain integrating structures for packaging the high power IC devices, such as heat spreaders, should also serve to provide RF and DC grounding.